Greetings from the Northern Great Plains!

[Sunshine]

Wow, what an intro! i love Chancellor and Duke names for cats 😆a big welcome to SGL and I’m jealous of those skies!

[Astric Celestiustolls]

Astro Noodles and Mike Q, 

Yes, North Dakota does have some amazing skies indeed. There was a bit of a haze the last two weeks due to wildfires in Canada and Eastern Montana, but I feel selfish complaining about those and hope that the people and animals in those areas are safe. Astro Noodles, I did end up getting the TPO 180 UltraWide Astrophotography Lens, which I am excited to test out. This should allow some better and easier focusing from the Canon zoom lenses that I was using. Also, thanks on the pipes comment! My brother-in-law got me those and when the job stress gets high, I often wonder if I should grab some tobacco and use them! Mike Q, my wife and I lived in Toledo actually and, I never thought that I would say this, but we miss it. We lived in the suburb of Maumee in a nice town home. Being a Northwesterner by origin, Ohio was an interesting place for my wife and I. From our perspective, Ohio seemed like a microcosm of the rest of the nation.... Technically in the Midwest, but go east and you're in a state that is even more quintessentially Midwest, Indiana, and then travel one state east and you're in the Mid-Atlantic, and then one state south and you're technically in the South. It sounds corny, but Ohio really did feel like the "heart of it all", as the saying goes. North Dakota winters are not too bad, at least snow wise, it is the brutal wind that makes it a bitter cold. I am hoping to get some clear skies before winter hits, which is not too far away, sadly. My job-hobby timing is terrible because when the job slows down it is because the soil literally freezes!

Edited September 19, 2022 by Astric Celestiustolls

[Astric Celestiustolls]

Sunshine, 

Thanks! The boys keep us entertained. I like dogs too, but we've always been long-time apartment dwellers and cats are easy... except when they're not! Haha!